Chicago’s largest fire in 7 years now an ‘ice castle’

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Chicago firefighters are still checking out on Wednesday afternoon the site of a massive blaze in Bridgeport. It was the largest fire in the city in seven years.

The fire broke out at an old, five-story warehouse at 37th and Ashland around 9 p.m. Tuesday. A fire chief passing by the former Harris Marcus Group building noticed the flames, and alerted his fellow firefighters. More than 200 firemen battled the fire, and it took them about four hours to get it under control. Huge flames and smoke shot out through the collapsed roof. A zone is set up around the building in case it crumbles even further.

Besides the fire, firefighters had to battle the harsh winter conditions. The bitter cold caused ice to form on hydrants and ladders. The frigid temperatures also left the building coated with thick ice.

“The first fire live that I’ve ever saw in my whole life. And then to see that, I mean, what happened was bad. But, to see that, that looks pretty cool. The way it looks now, you know? What the firefighters had to go through last night was bad,” said Isabela Lopez, a Bridgeport resident.

“This morning, my son wanted to come and look at it, and it looks like an ice castle.” said Bridgeport resident Mike Lopez.

One firefighter was seriously injured when he slipped on some ice, and was taken to Christ Medical Center.

7 comments

Crystal

Wow what a terrible fire. While looking at the slideshow of pictures, I noticed something when I got to this photo of the windows. If you look closely at the right window, it looks like the side of a face is in the window. Can you see the eye, the nose, and the upper set of teeth? Are my eyes playing tricks on me?